Томас Джефферсон
The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, Vol. 3 (of 9)
TO COLONEL HUMPHREYS
Philadelphia, November 8, 1792.
Dear Sir,—You were not unapprised of the reluctance with which I came into my present office, and I came into it with a determination to quit it as soon as decency would permit. Nor was it long before I fixed on the termination of our first federal cycle of four years as the proper moment. That moment is now approaching, and is to me as land was to Columbus in his first American voyage. The object of this private letter is to desire that your future public letters may be addressed to the Secretary of State by title and not by name, until you know who he will be, as otherwise your letters arriving here after the 3d of March, would incur the expense, delay, and risk of travelling six hundred miles by post after their arrival here. I may perhaps take the liberty of sometimes troubling you with a line from my retirement, and shall be ever happy to hear from you, and to give you every proof of the sincere esteem and respect, with which I have the honor to be, dear Sir, your affectionate friend and servant.
P. S. We yesterday received information of the conclusion of peace with the Wabash and Illinois Indians. This forms a broad separation between the northern and southern war-tribes.
TO T. M. RANDOLPH, JR
Philadelphia, November 16, 1792.
Dear Sir,—Congress have not yet entered into any important business. An attempt has been made to give further extent to the influence of the Executive over the Legislature, by permitting the heads of departments to attend the House and explain their measures vivâ voce. But it was negatived by a majority of 35 to 11, which gives us some hope of the increase of the republican vote. However, no trying question enables us yet to judge, nor indeed is there reason to expect from this Congress many instances of conversion, though some will probably have been effected by the expression of the public sentiment in the late election. For, as far as we have heard, the event has been generally in favor of republican, and against the aristocratical candidates. In this State the election has been triumphantly carried by the republicans; their antagonists having got but 2 out of 11 members, and the vote of this State can generally turn the balance. Freneau's paper is getting into Massachusetts, under the patronage of Hancock; and Samuel Adams, and Mr. Ames, the colossus of the monocrats and paper men, will either be left out or hard run. The people of that State are republican; but hitherto they have heard nothing but the hymns and lauds chanted by Fenno. My love to my dear Martha, and am, dear Sir, yours affectionately.
TO M. DE TERNANT
Philadelphia, November 20, 1792.
Sir,—Your letter on the subject of further supplies to the colony of St. Domingo, has been duly received and considered. When the distresses of that colony first broke forth, we thought we could not better evidence our friendship to that and to the mother country also, than to step in to its relief, on your application, without waiting a formal authorization from the National Assembly. As the case was unforeseen, so it was unprovided for on their part, and we did what we doubted not they would have desired us to do, had there been time to make the application, and what we presumed they would sanction as soon as known to them. We have now been going on more than a twelve-month, in making advances for the relief of the colony, without having, as yet, received any such sanction; for the decree of four millions of livres in aid of the colony, besides the circuitous and informal manner by which we became acquainted with it, describes and applies to operations very different from those which have actually taken place. The wants of the colony appear likely to continue, and their reliance on our supplies to become habitual. We feel every disposition to continue our efforts for administering to those wants; but that cautious attention to forms which would have been unfriendly in the first moment, becomes a duty to ourselves, when the business assumes the appearance of long continuance, and respectful also to the National Assembly itself, who have a right to prescribe the line of an interference so materially interesting to the mother country and the colony.
By the estimate you were pleased to deliver me, we perceive that there will be wanting, to carry the colony through the month of December, between thirty and forty thousand dollars, in addition to the sums before engaged to you. I am authorized to inform you, that the sum of forty thousand dollars shall be paid to your orders at the treasury of the United States, and to assure you, that we feel no abatement in our dispositions to contribute these aids from time to time, as they shall be wanting, for the necessary subsistence of the colony; but the want of express approbation from the national Legislature, must ere long produce a presumption that they contemplate perhaps other modes of relieving the colony, and dictate to us the propriety of doing only what they shall have regularly and previously sanctioned. Their decree before mentioned, contemplates purchases made in the United States only. In this they might probably have in view, as well to keep the business of providing supplies under a single direction, as that these supplies should be bought where they can be had cheapest, and where the same sum will consequently effect the greatest measure of relief to the colony. It is our wish as undoubtedly it must be yours, that the moneys we furnish be applied strictly in the line they prescribe. We understand, however, that there are in the hands of our citizens, some bills drawn by the administration of the colony, for articles of subsistence delivered there. It seems just, that such of them should be paid as were received before bona fide notice that that mode of supply was not bottomed on the funds furnished to you by the United States, and we recommend them to you accordingly.
I have the honor to be, with sentiments of the most perfect esteem and respect. Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.
TO MR. PINCKNEY
Philadelphia, December 3, 1792.
Dear Sir,—
* * * * *
I do not write you a public letter by the packet because there is really no subject for it. The elections for Congress have produced a decided majority in favor of the republican interest. They complain, you know, that the influence and patronage of the Executive is to become so great as to govern the Legislature. They endeavored a few days ago to take away one means of influence by condemning references to the heads of department. They failed by a majority of five votes. They were more successful in their endeavor to prevent the introduction of a new means of influence, that of admitting the heads of department to deliberate occasionally in the House in explanation of their measures. The proposition for their admission was rejected by a pretty general vote. I think we may consider the tide of this government as now at the fullest, and that it will, from the commencement of the next session of Congress, retire and subside into the true principles of the Constitution. An alarm has been endeavored to be sounded as if the republican interest was indisposed to the payment of the public debt. Besides the general object of the calumny, it was meant to answer the special one of electioneering. Its falsehood was so notorious that it produced little effect. They endeavored with as little success to conjure up the ghost of anti-federalism, and to have it believed that this and republicanism were the same, and that both were Jacobinism. But those who felt themselves republicans and federalists too, were little moved by this artifice; so that the result of the election has been promising. The occasion of electing a Vice-President has been seized as a proper one for expressing the public sense on the doctrines of the monocrats. There will be a strong vote against Mr. Adams, but the strength of his personal worth and his services will, I think, prevail over the demerit of his political creed.
I am, with great and sincere esteem, my dear Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.
TO DR. GILMER
Philadelphia, December 15, 1792.
Dear Doctor,—I received only two days ago your favor of October 9, by Mr. Everett. He is now under the small-pox. I am rejoiced with the account he gives me of the invigoration of your system, and am anxious for your persevering in any course of regimen which may long preserve you to us. We have just received the glorious news of the Prussian army being obliged to retreat, and hope it will be followed by some proper catastrophe on them. This news has given wry faces to our monocrats here, but sincere joy to the great body of the citizens. It arrived only in the afternoon of yesterday, and the bells were rung and some illuminations took place in the evening. A proposition has been made to Congress to begin sinking the public debt by a tax on pleasure horses; that is to say, on all horses not employed for the draught or farm. It is said there is not a horse of that description eastward of New York. And as to call this a direct tax would oblige them to proportion it among the States according to the census, they choose to class it among the indirect taxes. We have a glimmering hope of peace from the northern Indians, but from those of the south there is danger of war. Wheat is at a dollar and a fifth here. Do not sell yours till the market begins to fall. You may lose a penny or two in the bushel then, but might lose a shilling or two now. Present me affectionately to Mrs. Gilmer. Yours, sincerely.
TO MR. MERCER
Philadelphia, December 19, 1792.
Dear Sir,—I received yesterday your favor of the 13th. I had been waiting two or three days in expectation of vessels said to be in the river, and by which we hope more particular accounts of the late affairs in France. It has turned out that there were no such vessels arriving as had been pretended. However I think we may safely rely that the Duke of Brunswick has retreated, and it is certainly possible enough that between famine, disease, and a country abounding with defiles, he may suffer some considerable catastrophe. The monocrats here still affect to disbelieve all this, while the republicans are rejoicing and taking to themselves the name of Jacobins, which two months ago was fixed on them by way of stigma. The votes for Vice-President, as far as hitherto known, stands thus:
Bankrupt bill is brought on with some very threatening features to landed and farming men, who are in danger of being drawn into its vortex. It assumes the right of seizing and selling lands, and so cuts the knotty question of the Constitution whether the General Government may direct the transmission of land by descent or otherwise. The post-office is not within my department, but that of the treasury. I note duly what you say of Mr. Skinner, but I don't believe any bill on weights and measures will be passed. Adieu. Yours, affectionately.
TO MR. RUTHERFORD
Philadelphia, December 25, 1792.
Sir,—I have considered, with all the attention which the shortness of the time would permit, the two motions which you were pleased to put into my hands yesterday afternoon, on the subject of weights and measures, now under reference to a committee of the Senate, and will take the liberty of making a few observations thereon.
The first, I presume, is intended as a basis for the adoption of that alternative of the report on measures and weights, which proposed retaining the present system, and fixing its several parts by a reference to a rod vibrating seconds, under the circumstances therein explained; and to fulfil its object, I think the resolutions there proposed should be followed by this: "that the standard by which the said measures of length, surface, and capacity shall be fixed, shall be an uniform cylindrical rod of iron, of such length as in latitude forty-five degrees, in the level of the ocean, and in a cellar or other place of uniform natural temperature, shall perform its vibrations in small and equal arcs, in one second of mean time; and that rain water be the substance, to some definite mass of which, the said weights shall be referred." Without this, the committee employed to prepare a bill on those resolutions, would be uninstructed as to the principles by which the Senate mean to fix their measures of length, and the substance by which they will fix their weights.
The second motion is a middle proposition between the first and the last alternatives in the report. It agrees with the first in some of the present measures and weights, and with the last, in compounding and dividing them decimally. If this should be thought best, I take the liberty of proposing the following alterations of these resolutions:
2d. For "metal" substitute "iron." The object is to have one determinate standard. But the different metals having different degrees of expansibility, there would be as many different standards as there are metals, were that generic term to be used. A specific one seems preferable, and "iron" the best, because the least variable by expansion.
3d. I should think it better to omit the chain of 66 feet, because it introduces a series which is not decimal, viz., 1. 66. 80. and because it is absolutely useless. As a measure of length, it is unknown to the mass of our citizens; and if retained for the purpose of superficial measure, the foot will supply its place, and fix the acre as in the fourth resolution.
4th. For the same reason, I propose to omit the words "or shall be ten chains in length and one in breadth."
5th. This resolution would stand better, if it omitted the words "shall be one foot square, and one foot and twenty cents of a foot deep, and," because the second description is perfect, and too plain to need explanation. Or if the first expression be preferred, the second may be omitted, as perfectly tautologous.
6th. I propose to leave out the words "shall be equal to the pound avoirdupois now in use, and," for the reasons suggested in the second resolution, to wit, that our object is, to have one determinate standard. The pound avoirdupois now in use is an indefinite thing. The committee of parliament reported variations among the standard weights of the exchequer. Different persons weighing the cubic foot of water, have made it, some more, and some less than one thousand ounces avoirdupois; according as their weights had been tested by the lighter or heavier standard weights of the exchequer. If the pound now in use be declared a standard, as well as the weight of sixteen thousand cubic cents of a foot in water, it may hereafter perhaps be insisted that these two definitions are different, and that, being of equal authority, either may be used, and so the standard pound be rendered as uncertain as at present.
7th. For the same reason, I propose to omit the words "equal to seven grains troy." The true ratio between the avoirdupois and troy weights, is a very contested one. The equation of seven thousand grains troy to the pound avoirdupois, is only one of several opinions, and is indebted perhaps to its integral form for its prevalence. The introduction either of the troy or avoirdupois weight into the definition of our unit, will throw that unit under the uncertainties now enveloping the troy and avoirdupois weights.
When the House of Representatives were pleased to refer to me the subject of weights and measures, I was uninformed as to the hypothesis on which I was to take it up; to wit, whether on that, that our citizens would not approve of any material change in the present system, or on the other, that they were ripe for a complete reformation. I therefore proposed plans for each alternative. In contemplating these, I had occasion to examine well all the middle ground between the two, and among others which presented themselves to my mind, was the plan of establishing one of the known weights and measures as the unit in each class; to wit, in the measures of lines, of surfaces, and of solids, and in weights, and to compound and divide them decimally. In the measures of weights, I had thought of the ounce as the best unit, because, calling it the thousandth part of a cubic foot of water, it fell into the decimal series, formed a happy link of connection with the system of measures on the one side, and of coins on the other, by admitting an equality with the dollar, without changing the value of that or its alloy materially. But on the whole, I abandoned this middle proposition, on the supposition that if our fellow citizens were ripe for advancing so great a length towards reformation, as to retain only four known points of the very numerous series to which they were habituated, to wit, the foot, the acre, the bushel, and the ounce, abandoning all the multiples and subdivisions of them, or recurring for their value to the tables which would be formed, they would probably be ripe for taking the whole step, giving up these four points also, and making the reformation complete; and the rather, as in the present series and the one to be proposed, there would be so many points of very near approximation, as aided in the same manner by tables, would not increase their difficulties perhaps, indeed, would lessen them by the greater simplicity of the links by which the several members of the system are connected together. Perhaps, however, I was wrong in this supposition. The representatives of the people in Congress are alone competent to judge of the general disposition of the people, and to what precise point of reformation they are ready to go. On this, therefore, I do not presume to give an opinion, nor to pronounce between the comparative expediency of the three propositions; but shall be ready to give whatever aid I can to any of them which shall be adopted by the Legislature.
I have the honor to be, with perfect respect, your most obedient, and most humble servant.
TO MR. PINCKNEY
Philadelphia, December 30, 1792.
Dear Sir,—My last letters to you have been of the 13th and 20th of November, since which I have received yours of September 19. We are anxious to hear that the person substituted in the place of the one deceased is gone on that business. You do not mention your prospect of finding for the mint the officers we were desirous of procuring. On this subject, I will add to what was before mentioned to you, that if you can get artists really eminent, and on the salaries fixed by the law, we shall be glad of them; but that experience of the persons we have found here, would induce us to be contented with them rather than to take those who are not eminent, or who would expect more than the legal salaries. A greater difficulty has been experienced in procuring copper for the mint than we expected. Mr. Rittenhouse, the Director, having been advised that it might be had on advantageous terms from Sweden, has written me a letter on that subject, a copy of which I enclose you, with the bill of exchange it covered. I should not have troubled you with them, had our resident in Holland been in place. But on account of his absence, I am obliged to ask the favor of you to take such measures as your situation will admit, for procuring such a quantity of copper, to be brought us from Sweden, as this bill will enable you. It is presumed that the commercial relations of London with every part of Europe will furnish ready means of executing this commission. We as yet get no answer from Mr. Hammond on the general subject of the execution of the treaty. He says he is waiting for instructions. It would be well to urge, in your conversations with the minister, the necessity of giving Mr. Hammond such instructions and latitude as will enable him to proceed of himself. If on every move we are to await new instructions from the other side the Atlantic, it will be a long business indeed. You express a wish in your letter to be generally advised as to the tenor of your conduct, in consequence of the late revolution in France, the questions relative to which, you observe, incidentally present themselves to you. It is impossible to foresee the particular circumstances which may require you to decide and act on that question. But, principles being understood, their application will be less embarrassing. We certainly cannot deny to other nations that principle whereon our government is founded, that every nation has a right to govern itself internally under what forms it pleases, and to change these forms at its own will; and externally to transact business with other nations through whatever organ it chooses, whether that be a King, Convention, Assembly, Committee, President, or whatever it be. The only thing essential is, the will of the nation. Taking this as your polar star, you can hardly err. I shall send you by the first vessel which sails (the packet excepted on account of postage) two dozen plans of the city of Washington in the Federal Government, which you are desired to display, not for sale, but for public inspection, wherever they may be most seen by those descriptions of people worthy and likely to be attracted to it, dividing the plans among the cities of London and Edinburgh chiefly, but sending some also to Glasgow, Bristol, Dublin, &c. Mr. Taylor tells me he sends you the public papers by every vessel going from hence to London. They will keep you informed of the proceedings of Congress, and other occurrences worthy your knowledge. I have the honor to be, with great and sincere esteem, dear Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.
P. S. Though I have mentioned Sweden as the most likely place to get copper from, on the best terms, yet if you can be satisfied it may be got on better terms elsewhere, it is left to your discretion to get it elsewhere.
